When John McDaid saw U2 performing as part of Band
Aid he knew his future was in rock & roll and years later following
years busking Elvis songs in Leicester Square he found his home in Vega
4. A truly international line-up encompassing an Irishman, Canadian, New
Zealander and an Englishman (the makings of a great joke as well as a band)
with individual record contracts in every Continent bar Africa. Their debut
album "Satellites" captures the familiar feeling of Travis and The Stereophonics
and yet they never pin their influences too securely on their sleeves.
Designer Magazine caught up with McDaid to discover this magical journey.

Q: As you saying before Vega 4 is a truly international
band encompassing band members from Irish, New Zealand, Canada and England.
How did the Vega 4 come to be?A: I'd love to say we met in an AOL chatroom, but we
did actually meet in London. London is just on of those places that attract
people, a cosmopolitan stew pot of cultures and influences which is the
great side of London. There's very few indigenous people here unless you
actually go to the East End. I think that is why we all came here and we
spent so long trying to find the right combination and chemistry and it
was really when the four of us walked into a room that it all made sense.

I came here when I was 17 so I didn't know how to get
started or what to do, so I got my guitar and went to Leicester Square
and started busking and playing pubs. I played everything Buddy Holly songs
to Aztec Camera, Crowed House, REM and Elvis - anything people would throw
money at me for. But it was great because it really teaches you to get
people's attention and to sing out loud.

Q: Did you try and throw your own songs in there just
to gauge people's reaction?A: Definitely, that was always the bonus. When I played
pubs I tried to throw my own songs in and it really teaches you the craft
of songwriting because peoples attention span for original stuff in a pub
in the West End tends to be not long. So it definitely drags along the
whole idea of melody and reaching people very quickly.

Q: When Brian the drummer joined there really was chemistry
in the band you hadn't experienced before and that was the start of Vega
4. Is it important for you that Vega 4 is a true band and not just a Noel
Gallagher style dictatorship?A: There was one performance that really changed my life
and that was Live Aid. There were two bands on there that really were great
bands and that was Queen and U2. I was about 8 years old when I first saw
it, but I can still remember it having a huge effect on me and thinking
"wow, there was this amazing chemistry between them on stage and they're
in a gang" and I went along with both of those bands and listening to their
records on the back of it.

You see I always wanted to be in a band like that and
I am in a band like that - a band that is much more important than each
individual is. The Beatles were a band like that, The Stones and REM to
me are a band like that. They may not be the coolest bands to name check,
but what's important is that these bands connect with millions of people.

Q: The album "Satellites" was recorded with John Cornfield
in the last room the Beatles played in. A lot of history is surrounding
the release. Do you feel Vega 4 could be added to the list of great's?A: The great thing about making "Satellites" is that
it's all a big story book. Were very different culturally and grew up listening
to different types of music and then we went to this totally cut off remote
island...there wasn't even a road to it, you had to get a boat to the studio.
It was the Studio where Oasis recorded their first album and the Verve
recorded there and then we went over to New York right to the centre of
Times Square. And then after a short trip back to Cornwall to record some
new material we want to Hollywood. It was just this mass of constant contradiction
that was flying about - not only were we from four different places and
had all these different cultures, but we were also experiencing in the
recording of one album all this stuff getting thrown at us.

Q: I think the thing that stands out about the album,
as you said before the band has a truly international line-up, but also
the sound of the band has that universal appeal. Would you agree?A: That's the beauty of music to me - it shouldn't be
territorial. It's cool when you hear a genre of music like Britpop and
then you have American Rock and Emo and that's fine, everything has it's
place. But for us it was always about not being attached to anything and
not being a fashionable band that just latches itself onto the side of
another fashion. This idea of having melodies in songs and really strong
lyrics is important to us and were not disguising it behind anything.

The funny thing is that from reading the reviews of "Satellites"
there's everything from Smashing Pumpkins, The Verve, U2, REM and The Beatles.
There's just so many influences that we couldn't possibly sound like them
all. Already at this stage were thinking about the next album and I think
organic is really the way were going. When you strip things back they become
more direct and soulful and what were finding now when we play live is
we don't need layers and layers and that the rehearsal room has got it's
own energy.

***********"Satellites" is out now on Taste MediaFor more infowww.vega4.com***********